Halifax MZ321 near Stamford Bridge.
During the evening of 13th January 1945 the crew of this 77 Squadron aircraft were to undertake an operational flight to bomb Saarbrucken. The aircraft took off from Full Sutton airfield at 15.32hrs but immediately as the aircraft left the ground the starboard outer engine caught fire. The crew attempted to shut down the engine and feather the propeller but the feathering was unsuccessful. A windmilling propeller on a burning engine was a major problem to the crew, as the aircraft was carrying a full bomb load the crew jettisoned the load over farmland. The fire extinguisher system had no effect on the fire and with it beginning to spread to the airframe the crew force landed at 15.45hrs around a mile north east of Stamford Bridge. The aircraft touched down in a field next to the River Derwent but over-ran this field and came to rest in the water. The crew escaped injury. The aircraft was recovered from the water as best as possible but it appears to have ended up in fairly deep water, parts were left in the water.
In the 1990s a local diving club obtained an MoD licence. A group of air historians were invited to the recover dive which saw a number of items were recovered from the river. During the Second World War a military Bailey bridge crossed the River Derwent close to where the Halifax crashed, local people state that a military vehicle fell from the bridge into a very deep part of the river that they thought may never have been recovered. The diving of the river in the 1990s was to search for both but only some Halifax parts were found.
Pilot - W/C John Douglas Richard Forbes AFC RAF (43630).
Flight Engineer - Sgt A G Evans.
? - F/O N Laidler (probably F/O Neil Laidler RAFVR (144744)).
? - F/O J W Beale (probably F/O Jack Willson Beale RAFVR (161764)).
? - F/O Arnold Peter Pemberton RAFVR (142221).
Air Gunner - F/O Bernard Ellement Holmes RAFVR (139213).
Air Gunner - F/O James Alexander Kennedy DFM RAF (51614).
Bernard Holmes also served with 106 Squadron.
Ken Reast and Dave Thompson with some of the items recovered in the 1990s recovery.
James Kennedy was awarded the DFM for service with 106 Squadron, Gazetted in March 1943. He had been involved in combat with an enemy aircraft on 21st / 22nd December 1942.
